Participants from 14 unions—as well as several social movement allies, universities, foundations and think tanks—came together at the Workers University in Geneva, Switzerland, to discuss prospects of building "TUED Europe". Leading the effort was Maité Llanos, formerly of CTA-Argentina and currently based in Geneva and member of the Global Labour Institute network (GLI).

Participants affirmed the commitment to develop a clear energy democracy perspective grounded in anti-austerity, the defense of workers' rights, and the need to overcome the problems of the present neoliberal approach to renewable energy, as well as to find alternatives to the current market-based energy policies. Participants also agreed to work on the development of a TUED framing document that would articulate the main elements of a Europe-specific approach to public ownership, energy transition and climate commitments, in order to elaborate a calendar of discussions in order to deepen knowledge and analyses regarding these crucial topics.

Participants welcomed the opportunity to discuss Energy Democracy in the European context and encouraged the global TUED network to continue convening meetings and providing inputs for the debate in 2018.

Another important element of the meeting was the presence of researchers from European Trade Union Institute (ETUI) and the Public Services International Research Unit (PSIRU). These researchers provided evidence-based inputs to the meeting. Social actors as Via Campesina, Transnational Institute (TNI) and Swiss NGOs working on divestment provided their own approach on actions that they are taking that are consistent with energy democracy.

Union participants came from across Europe and spanning a range of sectors, and represented unions from: the Basque region, Croatia, France, Galicia, Greece, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Switzerland, and the UK. Regional trade union bodies – the European Transport Workers' Federation (ETF) and the European Public Service Union (EPSU) – were also represented.